Based on the book, Judaism's 10 Best Ideas; A Brief Guide for Seekers by Arthur Green
(י) הִֽתְהַֽלְלוּ֙ בְּשֵׁ֣ם קָדְשׁ֔וֹ יִשְׂמַ֕ח לֵ֖ב מְבַקְשֵׁ֥י ה'׃
(10) Exult in God's holy name; let all who seek the Eternal rejoice.
"Simchah, or joy, is the attitude toward life that Judaism seeks to instill. Despite the fact that Jewish history has more than its share of bleak and depression chapters, the tradition sees itself as a joyous one."
How does joy impact how your spiritual life?
When is it easier and more difficult to see the world with joy?
(כז) וַיִּבְרָ֨א אֱלֹקִ֤ים ׀ אֶת־הָֽאָדָם֙ בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ בְּצֶ֥לֶם אֱלֹקִ֖ים בָּרָ֣א אֹת֑וֹ זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה בָּרָ֥א אֹתָֽם׃
(27) And God created the human in God's image, in the image of God God created it; male and female God created them.
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Rabbi Akiva says: This is the great principal of the Torah. Ben Azzai says: "This is the book of the generations of Adam" is the great principal of the Torah.
What do each of these teachings offer the reader?
How would the world look if each person lived by this principle?
(יב) וְעַתָּה֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל מָ֚ה ה' אֱלֹקֶ֔יךָ שֹׁאֵ֖ל מֵעִמָּ֑ךְ כִּ֣י אִם־לְ֠יִרְאָה אֶת־ה' אֱלֹקֶ֜יךָ לָלֶ֤כֶת בְּכָל־דְּרָכָיו֙ וּלְאַהֲבָ֣ה אֹת֔וֹ וְלַֽעֲבֹד֙ אֶת־ה' אֱלֹקֶ֔יךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ֖ וּבְכָל־נַפְשֶֽׁךָ׃
(12) And now, O Israel, what does the Eternal your God demand of you? Only this: to be in awe of the Eternal your God, to walk in all of God paths, to love God, and to serve the Eternal your God with all your heart and soul.
"We choose to follow [halakhah] out of personal commitment; it is our way of expressing such deep feelings as our love of God, our attachment to the legacy of the Jewish people, and our sense of the need to apply our spiritual beliefs to the conduct of even the most mundane human affairs."
Which actions help you feel most as if you are walking in God's path?
Does the intention behind the action matter or is the action itself enough?
(15) The Eternal God took the human and placed it in the garden of Eden, to till it and tend it.
"In order to mend or repair something, you first have to acknowledge that it is broken. Tikkun Olam begins with recognizing that we live in a broken world."
What brokenness do you see in the world?
This idea speaks to a partnership with God. In what ways are humans responsible for Tikkun Olam? In what ways is God responsible?
(1) The heaven and the earth were finished, and all their array. (2) On the seventh day God finished the work that God had been doing, and God ceased on the seventh day from all the work that God had done. (3) And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because on it God ceased from all the work of creation that God had done.
"But today we look at Shabbat from a different, more contemporary, perspective. We are living through one of the great ages of the speeding up of human consciousness. How incredibly fast the pace of our lives has become!"
How does humanity benefit from a day of slowing down?
If you could create 3 rules of Shabbat, what would they be?
(א) אֵי זוֹ הִיא תְּשׁוּבָה גְּמוּרָה. זֶה שֶׁבָּא לְיָדוֹ דָּבָר שֶׁעָבַר בּוֹ וְאֶפְשָׁר בְּיָדוֹ לַעֲשׂוֹתוֹ וּפֵרַשׁ וְלֹא עָשָׂה מִפְּנֵי הַתְּשׁוּבָה. לֹא מִיִּרְאָה וְלֹא מִכִּשְׁלוֹן כֹּחַ.
(1) What is complete return? The one who once more had in it in their power to repeat a violation, but separated themself therefrom, and did not do it because of return, but out of fear or lack of strength.
"Other voices within the tradition understand the claim of primordial teshuvah to mean that our human longing to return to our Source is fully part of the natural order. We are born to be God seekers. The soul quests after God in the same way that trees grow in the direction of sunlight, pulled by an inner force that tells them to reach out toward what they need, to attain their nourishment. Their very lives depend upon their ability to respond to this inward call."
What is the difference between acts of teshuvah between people and those between ourselves and God?
Do you feel a longing for a relationship with God? How do you respond to this feeling?
(18) It is a tree of life to those who grasp it, And whoever holds on to it is happy.
This verse from proverbs is contextually about Wisdom, who is often personified in the female. The Rabbis decontextualize this verse to be about Torah, which is also a feminine noun, which deliberately conflates Wisdom and Torah into the same thing.
"Interpretation opens and widens the text, allows us to find ourselves within it, to make room within tradition for our own unique perspective. But it also affirms the text; we make Torah our own as we find ourselves in it."
How do you make Torah your own?
How do you find yourself in Torah?
(7) Teach them repeatedly to your children, and speak with them - when you sit at home and when walk on the path, when you lie down and when you get up.
"If you were to ask me what single precept of Judaism is the one to which Jews feel the greatest commitment, I could answer completely without hesitation. 'You shall teach them diligently to your children': the commandment to educate, to pass the legacy of tradition and its knowledge onward from generation to generation. Jews have a particularly strong awareness that our lives serve as bridges between those who came before us and those who will come after us; each of us is a living link between our grandparents and our grandchildren."
How does this idea benefit the teacher and the learner?
What idea is most important for us to impart to the next generation?
(ה) וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֤ם אֶת־חֻקֹּתַי֙ וְאֶת־מִשְׁפָּטַ֔י אֲשֶׁ֨ר יַעֲשֶׂ֥ה אֹתָ֛ם הָאָדָ֖ם וָחַ֣י בָּהֶ֑ם אֲנִ֖י ה'׃ (ס)
(5) You shall keep My laws and My rules, by the pursuit of which humanity shall live: I am the Eternal.
"Judaism's strength and inner wisdom have everything to do with the treasuring of life. We proclaim that life itself is a sacred gift and that God's presence is to be found in daily living. We exemplify that presence in human decency and kindness. God is glorified in the sacred moments that enrich the cycles of our years and lives, in the legacy that has carried us forward for so many centuries, allowing us to survive suffering and degradation with our heads held high."
How does this idea change how we understand a reward in the afterlife?
How is this different from idea 2 (Tzelem Elohim)?
(ד) שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל ה' אֱלֹקֵ֖ינוּ ה' ׀ אֶחָֽד׃
(4) Hear, Israel! The Eternal our God; the Eternal alone.
"Don't look beyond the stars. There's no need to stretch your neck. God is right here, filling all of existence with endless bounty. Look around you. Look within. Open your eyes. Find God's presence in each and every creature and in the unified, transforming vision of all that is. That's what it means to belong to Israel, the people who struggle with God."
What difference does monotheism make?
Where can you most clearly see the unity in the universe?